The present invention relates to parallel optical digital processors. Optical digital computing has been explored by many investigators for opto-electronic computing. The various architectures provide substantial speed since many bits of data may be processed in parallel. As explained in considerable detail in "Optical Neural Networks"; John Caulfield et al; proceedings of the IEEE, Vol. 77, No. 10, Oct. 1989; classical optical information processing and classical neural networks can be mutually adapted to create optical neural networks which offer significant advantages over electronic neural networks in various cases.
In an article entitled "Operating Modes of the Microchannel Spatial Light Modulator"; Warde and Thackara; Optical Engineering, November/December 1983, pages 695-703; a number of digital data processing operations are described such as and, or, nor, which may be carried out by a spatial light modulator (SLM).